| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Ursula by Honore de Balzac: to give me--what can a poor girl like me want?--ah, in prison, he!--"
"Offer to God your disappointments, and perhaps he will help us."
There was silence for some minutes. When Ursula, who at first did not
dare to look at her godfather, raised her eyes, her heart was deeply
moved to see the tears which were rolling down his withered cheeks.
The tears of old men are as terrible as those of children are natural.
"Oh what is it?" cried Ursula, flinging herself at his feet and
kissing his hands. "Are you not sure of me?"
"I, who longed to gratify all your wishes, it is I who am obliged to
cause the first great sorrow of your life!" he said. "I suffer as much
as you. I never wept before, except when I lost my children--and,
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from A Legend of Montrose by Walter Scott: fearful malady by which she had been visited. But, after the
death of his mother, the habits and manners of the boy seemed at
once to change. It is true he remained as thoughtful and serious
as before; and long fits of silence and abstraction showed
plainly that his disposition, in this respect, was in no degree
altered. But at other times, he sought out the rendezvous of the
youth of the c]an, which he had hitherto seemed anxious to avoid.
He took share in all their exercises; and, from his very
extraordinary personal strength, soon excelled his brother and
other youths, whose age considerably exceeded his own. They who
had hitherto held him in contempt, now feared, if they did not
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Ferragus by Honore de Balzac: never to take part in the torrent of Paris, with its youthful, active
crowd. It is impossible to know if their friends have forgotten to
bury them, or whether they have escaped out of their coffins. At any
rate, they have reached the condition of semi-fossils.
One of these Parisian Melmoths had come within a few days into a
neighborhood of sober, quiet people, who, when the weather is fine,
are invariably to be found in the space which lies between the south
entrance of the Luxembourg and the north entrance of the Observatoire,
--a space without a name, the neutral space of Paris. There, Paris is
no longer; and there, Paris still lingers. The spot is a mingling of
street, square, boulevard, fortification, garden, avenue, high-road,
Ferragus |
